I missed the deleted thread and I'm not sure I'm following everyone's positions in this one, either. But I'd like to share my thoughts about teachers with you.

I think teachers should get paid $100,000 a year or more for the work they do teaching our future generations to read, write, do arithmetic, pay attention in class, mind their manners, follow the rules, be kind etc., etc. The list goes on and on. You couldn't pay me enough money to do the kind of work they do day in and day out.

Teaching is not for everyone. Public school teachers in Hawaii are paid according to what has been budgeted by our legislature. And the average teacher salaries here are abysmal. So the problem needs to be corrected at the legislative level by budgeting more so we can retain and attract new teachers.

With that said, however, anyone who is unable to live within the established salary levels obviously needs to look for another occupation. That's the reality of it. Its going to take time and efforts of our communities and lawmakers to raise teacher salaries.

We all make tough decisions about the kind of livelihoods we would be happiest in. I personally know a CEO of a major company here in Hawaii who recently quit his high paying job and went back to teaching. It was his calling. Whoever says you can't get rich as a teacher needs to look up other definitions of rich in the dictionary.